Alienware is massively overpriced.

Just now, alexp999 said:

Alienware is massively overpriced.

AGREED but the difference is chalk and cheese

1 minute ago, Jimpster said:

If you can get out to a few shops currys etc and have a play youll see the difference.

I haven't been more than half a mile from my flat in the past 12 months.  This is absolutely not an ideal situation lol.  

OK sorry

4 hours ago, Jimpster said:

thats why i killed mine LOL

That makes two of us lol. I launched the Sony Viao the full length of our lounge about 8yrs ago in frustration quite a few yrs ago. It shattered the screen and the HD was err knackered and you could hear other components rattling around inside. 

£850 laptop at the time reduced to a pile of crud as it point blank refused to load properly. It was only a year old. Replaced it with a dell insperion Intel I3 (?) as it was cheap as chips. It still has 89%  space. It only makes an appearance if it's something that we can't do on our phone but as I said earlier it takes a ***** age n half to load now.

**8th OCT 2022**

Long story short, I'm still confused about laptop specs.   I decided not to go for the HP with the N4020 processor as it really does seem like the worst chip they put in them!  However, I do want to stick with that particular model.  I'm hoping the screen resolution and refresh rate will be the same as my current one, as I believe they're part of the reason for causing such major vision issues with the other new ones I've tried.

I can't quite work out the difference between G7 & G8...anyone know?  Also, can't work out if they're all grey as I'm really after another black one.  Some seem to be listed as 'dark ash silver' which is a contradiction in itself!

I'm not bothered by cost any more.  Just need to get one sorted as soon as possible now.  Would prefer to buy from a shop with an easy returns policy if I find out it's still not suitable within the first couple of weeks.

I'm considering this one...but if anyone's got a bit of time spare, and can find a better spec or a cheaper price, or even recommend a more reliable retailer then that would be great.

Thanks

HP 250 G8 Laptop Core i5 8GB 512GB SSD 15.6 Inch Windows 11 - Laptops Direct

The "G" refers to HP's internal "Generation" naming convention, so the G8 is a newer model than the G7. 

Core i5 is a very decent processor that will cope with pretty much any task you throw at it, unless you suddenly want to get into the world of professional 3D design or the NSA wants you to analyse last week's worldwide Twitter data. The only slight issue with that HP you linked is the 8GB memory, which is really the minimum these days. That said, you might be able to upgrade it later, and my Surface Pro 8 has the same processor and memory and is fine for web surfing and office stuff.

Black is so 1990s. These days it's all about off-blacks, unless you go for stupidly overpriced stuff. Like a Surface Pro. 

**Jan 2023**

On 9/27/2022 at 2:37 PM, erictcleric said:

For Onedrive, you can check what's actually stored online rather than the synced local copy. There should be a cloud icon in the bottom right next to the clock; right click on that and choose View Online to see everything that's actually in the Onedrive cloud. 

To save starting a new thread...

I tried to clear up the OneDrive online this morning.  However, deleting things online (in a webpage) also deleted things from the laptop folders.  These are things I've saved from this laptop, and had assumed they were saved to the hard drive.  

Basically, I panicked and restored everything from the OneDrive recycle bin and have left it at that.

The OneDrive is now full so no more auto-backup unless I clear some stuff.  But obviously I want that stuff to remain on the laptop.  Any ideas?

 

21 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

  Any ideas?

I'm not helpful I'm afraid, I have distrusted 'the cloud' since invention! Why would you trust all your stuff to be stored on basically another blokes computer! I'm old school all my stuff is stored on my own drives, with backups. Though I am older than you, and basically don't trust technology LOL Hopefully someone will guide you properly...

Can you not  copy the files on the drive/laptop to a USB drive ? 

I have done this recently using another cloud service. did the copy then pulled the stick before I deleted the files on the cloud.

You can create a new folder for the laptop only stuff. As long as it is outside the Documents, Music and Pictures folders, then it won't sync to Onedrive  - e.g. create the new folder directly on the C drive. Then move the files there. 

Bear in mind that won't be backed up, so if your laptop drive fails you've probably lost that folder. The Onedrive stuff will still be fine, so that's an advantage of the cloud. Plus, if you change to a new laptop then you'll need to transfer the folder too. 

I tend to keep most of my files on Onedrive, and the private stuff goes on my NAS (network attached storage - basically a hard drive connected directly to my home network). 

If you do ever want to go down the route of backing up your own files, there is a lovely little utility developed by MS calles SyncToy. It allows you to synchronise files to a backup folder (external or otherwise), and once the initial backup is done, it will thereafter only backup any 'changes' that have been made to the original folder - I use it monthly to backup my stuff so if my laptop ever does die, I lose a maximum of 4 weeks stuff which for me is acceptable.

https://www.ubackup.com/windows-11/synctoy-windows-11.html

 

13 hours ago, StephenFord said:

I'm not helpful I'm afraid, I have distrusted 'the cloud' since invention! Why would you trust all your stuff to be stored on basically another blokes computer! I'm old school all my stuff is stored on my own drives, with backups. Though I am older than you, and basically don't trust technology LOL Hopefully someone will guide you properly...

You make it sound like a conscious choice...  I wasn't aware that things were connected in this way.  See below...storing items in photos or documents folders automatically puts them on OneDrive.

 

10 hours ago, erictcleric said:

You can create a new folder for the laptop only stuff. As long as it is outside the Documents, Music and Pictures folders, then it won't sync to Onedrive  - e.g. create the new folder directly on the C drive. Then move the files there.  

Hmm, wish I'd known this before trying to clear the OneDrive yesterday. 🤦‍♂️

As the OneDrive is full, I can't restore everything that was deleted...including 3GB of photos.    Looks like the only option I have is to pay for the extra storage, then recover the photos, then make sure they're in a folder that isn't called 'Photos' before cancelling the subscription and losing the extra storage.  I assume you pay for extra stoarge if you keep everything on OneDrive?  5GB isn't much nowadays.

 

12 hours ago, Paulkp said:

Can you not  copy the files on the drive/laptop to a USB drive ? 

I did, or at least I thought I did, just before I started on the OneDrive.  But I don't know whether I've actually copied the documents over, or just links to OneDrive.  I daren't plug the external HD in again in case it automatically deletes things on there as well. 

I pay an annual subscription for MS Office, which adds 1 TB to Onedrive storage. That's a pricey way to do it if all you need is extra space, but I use Office a lot. Plus I get a discount from work - if anyone works for a large company which buys a lot of MS volume licences, it may be worth seeing if you have access to the MS Home Use Programme. 

Onedrive syncing stuff is the default, but you can turn it off in its settings or restrict what it syncs. Right-click on the cloud icon in the notifications area and you can get to the settings there. 

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

lovely little utility developed by MS calles SyncToy

That's is a good option I'd forgotten about! A "cloud" backup before there was the cloud.. 

 

I managed without OneDrive for over a decade on the previous laptop so don't really need it at all.  I have an external hard drive for backups although it's messy and contains a lot of duplicates.  That SyncToy program looks like a good idea.

Something must have happened when setting up the second hand laptop (identical to the original) where OneDrive became the default.  

I have now found a potential solution without paying for the extra storage.  Move the photos that are available on OneDrive into a 'C' folder (called 'Not On ***** OneDrive'  ).  Then delete those from OneDrive, giving space to restore the ones that are currently stuck in the OneDrive recycle bin.  Then move those from OneDrive in the C drive as well.  Seems to be working but is taking an age to download them.  Looks to be averaging about 700kb/min.  Not sure if that's limited by wifi as I'm currently using several Edge tabs and email as well.  Might speed up if I just leave it for an hour.

9 hours ago, StephenFord said:

there is a lovely little utility developed by MS calles SyncToy.

Are you using Windows 11, Stephen ?

If so, how are you finding it ?

3 minutes ago, unofix said:

Are you using Windows 11, Stephen ?

LOL, oh dear... I'm still using Windows 7 which is working perfectly for me. I only posted that updated SyncToy link as I thought Tom would be on 11  being a youngster and all!  

8 minutes ago, StephenFord said:

I'm still using Windows 7 which is working perfectly for me

Ditto 👍

1 hour ago, StephenFord said:

LOL, oh dear... I'm still using Windows 7 which is working perfectly for me. I only posted that updated SyncToy link as I thought Tom would be on 11  being a youngster and all!  

Age is only a number.  Sadly my brain resists any change just as much as the average pensioners.

I bought a Win11 laptop about 6 months ago.  But still stuck using the old, laggy, physically broken, second hand one that I had to overpay for due to my stupid brain not adapting to anything new.  Not that I'm frustrated by that of course.

 

I always turn onedrive and google drive off. THo there is a setting in it that if you delete from cloud your original stays on the Pc. I have one 32g scandisk memory stick that if i need to keep anything important i save to that. I do have 250and 750 2.5 hdd that i save box sets etc to

**Feb 2023**

To round off this thread, I have now managed to adapt to a new laptop.  Quite an achievement considering I've spent over 2 years and 3 different laptops trying to do so!  

The laptop with the snapped hinge is now on ebay as spares or repair.  If anyone on here fancies repairing it for use as a car laptop or anything, drop me a PM to make an offer or for more details.